VideoPad: new Windows laptop recommendations?

[sjanzeir]

Hello everyone,

 

My name is Shady and I'm new to this forum.

 

I've been using VideoPad Master's Edition since late 2017 to edit some cycling action videos and post them on YouTube. The primary machine that I've been running VideoPad on is an ancient Dell Latitude 6410 from around early 2011 (which I had bought, slightly used, in 2015,) with a first-generation Intel Core i7 640M processor (2.8GHz,) Nvidia NVS 3100M graphics (512mb dedicated RAM, if I recall,) and 8Gb of RAM (the maximum amount this machine is capable of using.)

 

Until recently, the laptop could handle my work with 1080/30p video just fine. When I attempted to edit my first 1080/60p video, though, VideoPad could barely even cache the footage, let alone preview it smoothly. Worse yet, after the latest Windows update, working on even 1080/30p became a waiting game; any higher resolutions or frame rates are simply out of the question.

 

I tried using my wife's newer, third-generation i7 laptop with 1Gb AMD Radeon HD 7570M graphics. I'm sorry to say that it wasn't any better - not even slightly. In fact, my older machine performed slightly better editing 1080/30p video!

 

So, I guess it's time for me to start looking for a new(er), more capable laptop. Can I safely assume that any current i7 processor (and decent graphics hardware) will handle VideoPad smoothly, or are there any particular hardware recommendations I should follow?

 

Thanks in advance,

Shady

[borate]

Recent VP versions incorporate caching improvements.

For resource intensive video editing, beefier is better.  Something along the lines of an I7, 8GB RAM and NVidia video 6xx video would be minimal, in my opinion. though some VP users succeed with considerably less.

Prior to loading your project, Clear Unused Cache Files (OPTIONS|DISK).  Right-click the preview window and reduce preview resolution to the lowest acceptable numbers.

If loading is still sluggish or preview is tedious, use the Proxy Editing method described here.  It can make a world of difference on lower-end systems.

We would like to review your project.  Please upload and share it per the instructions here.

Report back.

[sjanzeir]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I have been using (or rather, trying to get by with) proxy editing after I stumbled upon the post you linked to a few days earlier. Things are slightly better running lower-resolution proxy files (I used Prism to create 640x360 proxy files averaging 20-100Mb each, as opposed to the 290Mb originals,) but not by much - I would say the performance is now akin to what it was with VideoPad 5.xx or the early versions of 6.xx. Performance seemed to deteriorate after each Windows 10 update.

 

Using proxy editing presented me with another issue: every time I opened the project to work on it, the video files in the bin would revert to the original files; I would have to right-click each one, click "replace file..." and re-select every proxy file, one by one - until it occurred to me to just move the originals into a different folder than the one they were originally saved in - the one that I had loaded them from when I started the project - to sort of "force" VideoPad to keep loading the proxy files instead of the originals.

 

You can view my finished videos on YouTube here. I'll see about share my current project for review later this week. In the mean time, I still need some pointers on what kind of new/late-model used laptop I should be looking at. 😊

[borate]

If you followed the procedure outlined in the Proxy FAQ there should have been no conflict, but glad you got it sorted out.

As for laptop specs, some ideas here.

[sjanzeir]

On 3/15/2019 at 10:58 AM, borate said:

If you followed the procedure outlined in the Proxy FAQ there should have been no conflict, but glad you got it sorted out.

As for laptop specs, some ideas here.

I know now what I did wrong: I should've replaced the original files with the proxies in the same original folder, rather than put the originals and the proxies in two different folders. I realized this because the software kept asking me to "resolve missing files" every time I wanted to work on the project. That's when I realized that VideoPad must be looking for the  files to load in the original location they were in when I started the project. All I had to do was move the proxy files into the original location - problem solved.

 

So, back to my original post: From what I've gathered around the www, it seems that any late-model (6th generation or newer) i7 machine with plenty of RAM (preferably, or rather, at least 16Gb,) and ideally with at least 2Gb of dedicated graphics, will do. There also seems to be a general consensus (and I could've been reading it all wrong) around the internet that Nvidia graphics perform considerably better than AMD graphics for video editing, while the differences in processor performance between the two brands is minimal. Am I correct in assuming that I'd be better off ruling out any all-AMD (processor+graphics) laptops?

 

Thanks,

Shady

[borate]

Check this out.  If you can locate a knowledgeable custom builder in your area, they should be able to access your needs and make sensible recommendations.

[user007]

Shady,
Just go for a more recent laptop. It is important to be quiet because when exporting Videopad is using 100% CPU. 
Videopad is not using GPU for export however sooner or later you may need to edit/watch 4K video and you would need a better graphics card. Nvidia is not better than AMD Radeon - you may checkup the benchmark list at https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php  You may range them by G3D Mark (first column). 

 

For example your Radeon HD 7570M from 2012 is pretty old with G3D Mark of 611  https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+7570M&id=307 

Any of the recent mobile AMD chips would do a good job  https://www.amd.com/en/graphics/radeon-rx-graphics  For example Radeon RX 560 (4GB)   https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/radeon-rx-560 has more than 67 fps performance at all the videogames there and G3D Mark of 4,390   https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+RX+560&id=3708 

You may also checkup different laptops and their processor/graphics fps performance at:  https://www.notebookcheck.net/Notebookcheck-s-Top-10-Budget-Multimedia-Notebooks.281362.0.html 

[sjanzeir]

user007, thanks for the tip and sorry about my belated response.

I've been hitting up the used market to see what's out there. I'm quite fond of the msi Titan GT80/83 machines, but their used prices still are way, way beyond what I can afford - one dude here in Jeddah has one for sale, and the price he's asking could get you a nice used Mercedes-Benz! There are some used Dell Latitudes floating around the local online classifieds, and a couple of them aren't too shabby forthe  asking prices, with late-generation i7, multi-gig graphics, lots of RAM and what have you. Of course, I'd rather go brand new, but since I don't do any gaming and such, I just don't see the point, given there's still so much value to be had in a machine that's a generation or two old.

With that being said, I considered upgrading my old Latitude E6410 (or the wife's slightly more recent Tecra R940) with an ssd, but given that the Latitude is incapable of taking more than 8Gb of RAM anyway (I'm not sure about the Tecra), it just feels like a waste of money.

I'm still looking.
Shady